Fly Fishing: Skinny Big Hole Trout...

...for whatever reasons have been the norm (for browns and rainbows) all season long rather than the usual exceptions. The brown above is your typical early spring winter-starved version but...A couple days ago fishing the Slough Channel with our PA pals, Paul and Gretchen, we netted several, mostly browns and a rainbow or two, just as skinny. The why of this is more than I know? Theories being bandied about by local guides and experts range from "a somewhat skinny spruce moth hatch" to "not many hoppers" to "fighting all that high water" and probably a lot more I haven't heard yet. Well, maybe? Me? Like I said don't pretend to know and it could very well be just an old man's wild imagination but...time after time this season I recall muttering the same tired tune as I slipped the hook from a client's trout...pretty fish, really colored up nice but (more as an aside to self) a bit too skinny to my way of thinkin'! Hopefully before winter sets in the Big Hole will serve up whatever's needed to put some weight on, though at this stage I sure don't know what the hell that might...Better still all this really is just an old man's wild idea and all systems up there really are good to go...

Pronghorn (Antelope) Rut In Full Swing

There exists a dichotomy in hunting antelope with a stick and string...the easy way or the hard way. The easy way of course is to stake out a fence crossing or better yet a water hole, park your butt and wait for a good shot...an iron will and plenty patience is mostly all it takes to punch the tag. The flip side is to attempt to stalk, which for most of us means within 30 yards, closer is even better; no where near anything like easy still to me the challenge alone to say nothing of the adrenallin rush should you pull it off beats ambushing all to hell. But wait...there is an even better and way more exciting and fun way...that is to get yourself a decoy, wait until the rut starts (about mid September) and...well, if you haven't done it you are as they say missin' out on one of hunting's biggest thrills.  

Antelope bucks are territorial in the extreme. Beginning as early as March dominant bucks mark and defend huge territories against all comers as early as March. Over summer and as the rut nears these bucks gather large harems and gradually reduce their territories to something more manageable. Should an interloper so much as show himself on the horizon Mr. Buck quickly pushes the harem together and takes off putting the run on the would be rival...Here is where the fun begins should the "interloper"  be your decoy.

Sometimes the buck comes right in but more often a doe or does take off in the opposite direction which of course does not sit well with Mr. Buck...forgetting the interloper for now he runs the recalitrant does down, herds them back to the group...satisfied all is in order once again he turns attention to the rival...and this folks can and often does go on for several hours, sometimes all day...fun as hell, nothing like a sure thing...well, like I said if you ain't done it best try it...I guarantee you won't be disappointed unless of course punching a tag is more important than enjoying a fun and entertaining hunt...

Over the past couple weeks we have seen several really nice bucks not far out of town that have gathered some of the biggest harems we can recall...hint, hint.

Guide Wars Come To An End...At Long Last

Yesterday I promised myself and the girls would be my last guide trip of the season...one promise I plan to keep by the way. The season to say the least was a bit on the strange side. Only a handful of trips through April, May and June led to a busy...often too busy...July and August. Other years I sort of put an end to the madness come September but, hell, the outfitters kept calling and I somehow, for reasons still not entirely clear to me, kept saying "yes." Oh well, we need the moolah so...

As usual the season had its share of high and low lights...good news is the good mostly outweighed the bad...and except for the day the raft sunk and finding that at some point I'd punched a hole in the floor of the hard boat nothing really ugly for a change. Oh I guess you could say my recent shunning by an outfitter I thought we had a good working relationship at long last after several rocky seasons wasn't all that great...For whatever reason when we ended up at the same launch point (I was working for Al not him) the other day he chose not to talk actually would not even look my way...who the hell knows?...Although I'm sure at some point over the next few months he'll clue me in so we both know...Anyway I don't plan to lose sleep over it so...

I never did get a chance to look for the steel whatever poked a hole in the raft but I did learn patching one up is not all that big a deal...I think it took all of 20 minutes or so...As for the hole in the hard boat apparently it had been there for awhile, at least long enough to weaken the plywood beneath the several layers of fiberglass for rot to set in...my guess is with the wood weakened by the rot I hit a rock just so and ended up with a couple inches water in the bottom by the time we reached the take-out that day. Anyway I had just enough epoxy and a piece of heavy fiberglass to patch it (temporarily at least). Yesterday not a drop seeped in...

As usual the fishing and the fishermen yo-yoed between awful and pretty damn good. While I can't prove it my guess is I had more really good fishermen in the boat this time around than normal...my friends Doug and Steve, the guy from Texas (sorry) and Joe from Spokane and Steve who grew up in central PA where I spent most of my adult life stand out but...appologies to you other guys who could really pitch 'em as well...you know senior moment, loss of memory, ad nauseum.

So we come to yesterday's swan song...good outfitter, great lunch (never saw such a spread actually not ever close), good guys, decent weather, no wrecks, hardly any competition, decent fishing...all good. FYI the lunch spread included bar-b-que pork and cabbage, chunky potato salad, homemade chocolate chip cookies, homemade rolls/real butter even, homemade desert rolls/apricot/date filling and watermelon... OK a veritable FEAST! What can I say... 

Till next time...